June 21 will bring a highly rare occasion — a Top Rank fighter on a card put on by Golden Boy Promotions. On that day, Vasyl Lomachenko will face Gary Russell Jr. for a vacant featherweight world title on a tripleheader broadcast by Showtime from the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Russell is one of numerous boxers who is advised by Al Haymon and who has been fighting on Golden Boy shows. He is 24-0 with 14 knockouts.

“I haven’t thought very much of Gary Russell,” said Top Rank’s Bob Arum in a brief conversation about the fight with BoxingScene.com. “I mean, a lot of people say he’s very talented, which he probably is. But I think they haven’t had him fight peak kind of guys, and that the quality of opposition Lomachenko has faced, both in the amateurs and even in the professionals, has been higher.”

Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, had six wins in the World Series of Boxing and then had his first non-WSB pro fight last October, when he scored a fourth-round knockout of Jose Ramirez. And then in March, he challenged Orlando Salido for a featherweight title, losing by split decision. Salido came in overweight, though, losing the title on the scales and allowing Lomachenko and Russell to fight for it.

“Lomachenko was surprised by Salido, first of all he came in overweight, and then was so much heavier than Lomachenko was in the fight, and also was allowed by the referee to do so many fouls, and yet he [Lomachenko] almost pulled out the fight,” Arum said. “And one thing he showed is he can go the 12 rounds.”

“I like Lomachenko’s chances against Russell. It’s a good fight. It’s a quality fight. We tried to win the purse bid. They [Golden Boy] outbid us by a little bit. But the fight goes on. And it goes on in California, so that’s fine. Nobody worries about unfairness. And now that Oscar is in charge of Golden Boy, it’s further reason to relax and to know that everything will be fair.”

I give Loma an excellent chance in this one. I don't remember Russell doing nearly as much fouling as Salido did, so there's a start in the right direction. Plus Loma has a bigger amateur career, and Russell has fought basically nothing but cans in this pro career. This should be an great fight.

Gary Russell Jr. is a southpaw who likes to walk his opponents down. The guy who beat Lomachenko, Selimov, also seems to be a southpaw who walks his opponents down. They're obviously not even close to identical, but something to think about. Then again, Gary Russell Jr. is more of a high guard 1-...

I can't get over how Gary Russell is getting over. He may have ruined his hands knocking out statues, guys who refused to duck, but now he gets a two fight veteran for a championship. He's talks about pacing himself, probably because of his hands, but Gary is getting an early Christmas.

I like to hear Arum talk straight boxing and matchups, being honest i think he has one of the best eyes for talent out there. I do put a little stock into his opinion of Gary as it relates to this fight.
Still, if he had it his way, he probably wouldn't rush Loma into these fights. All of th...